Apparatus for elevating water



(No Model.)

W. O. LENTZ.

APPARATUS FOR ELEVATING WATER.

No. 398,518. Patented Feb. 26, 1889.

WITNESSES: 0% ASA ATTORNEYS.

N. PETERS, Phalo-Lfllwgmpher. Washingkcln u. c.

' the height to which water would ordinarily f be sustained by atmospheric pressure; and it UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM O. LENTZ, OF MAUCll (.llF'NK, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR ELEVATING WATER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 398,518, dated February 26, 1889.

Application filed geptember 29, 1888. ,serial No. 286,775. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern-- Be it known that I, WILLIAM O. Lnx'rz, of Mauch Chunk, in the county of Carbon and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Pipe and Valve Arrangements for Elevating ater, of which the following a ful clear, and exact description.

This invention has for its object the pumping of water from shafts or slopes in mines and elsewhere at or from depths in excess of relates to a system or method of raising water under such and similar circumstances, in which an air-pu mp arranged above is used in connection with a series of successive lifting columns or pipes fitted with suitable valves and connected with the pump.

The invention consists in certain novel constructions and combinations of parts in such asystem of elevating water, including the valves in the columns and means for controlling them to pass the water from column to column and for automatically admitting air to the several columns in succession to lift or force the water as required, substantially as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 represents a broken and partly sectional elevation of a series of pipes and valves and connected air-pump in illustration of my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional elevation of the upper half or length of one of the column-pipe sections with valve and combined Heat and weight applied thereto and in connection with a box on top of said section. Fig. 3 is a sectional view upon the line .1 .r inFig. 2, and Fig. lit a partly broken plan view of the box on top of each columnsection containing said valve.

A, B, and 0 indicate three of a series of any number of column pipes or sections of twenty-eight or thirty feet in height, more or less, and each of which is connected midway, or nearly so, of its height, as by a branch, I), with the lower end of the next column pipe or section above it, and each of which is provided at its bottom and midway of its height with valve-boxes c 1;, containing 1 mtterliy or check valves cl (1.

D is an exhaust air-pump supposed to be arranged on or above the surface of the ground at any desired height above the depth from which the water is to be raised, according to the number of column-pipes A 15 C employed. This pump, which is represented as a doubleacting one, is connected, as by pipes e c, with an air exhaust pipe, E, from which are branches f, connecting, respectively, with the top of each column-pipe A B (i or box F, mounted thereon. Vithin each of said boxes F is a cylindrical valve, G, fitted to work within a circular ease, G, and serving, accordingly as it is turned, to establish communication by its passage 9 between the interior of the box F and either one of two passages, 71 2 the one of which, 72, connects with the air-exhaust branchf of the column-pipe, and the other of which, 1:, is an outside air-inlet. The working of this valve G is automatically controlled by a combined float and weight, H, fitted to slide up and down a wire or rod, It, arranged to descend down within the upper half or length of each column-pipe A B C, and connected by a lever, Z, with said valve. I

The operation is as follows: The pump D being kept at work, and the valve G in each column-pipe A B 0 being first suitably adjusted, as by a handle, on, to establish com-- munication with the air-exhaust pipe E, the water is first caused to rise through the checkvalves d d to near the top of the first columnpipe A and to a corresponding level in the lower length or half of the next column-pipe B. of the column-pipe A to rise and, striking the lever Z, to turn the valve G; so that it willclose connection with the air-exhaust branchf and open communication with the outside air-inlet, 1', in the box F at the top of said column A, whereby the water in the pipe A above the valve (Z will. be acted upon by atmospheric pressure to close said valve and cause the water to be drawn through the check-valve in the box 0 of the column B and check-valve in the lower box, 0, of the column 0. "When the water is thus drawn from the upper half of the column-pipe A, the float H in said pipe-section acts as a weight, and, striking or resting upon This causes the float II in the upper half TOQ a stop at the lower end of the rod Z, causes the valve G in the box Fat the top of the pipe A to be turned so that it will close the air-inlet iand reopen communication by the passage h with the air-exhaust branch f of said column-pipe, and so provide for a fresh sup ply of water being drawn up again into the pipe A or to the same level as at first, for a repetition of the operation, as before, through the agency of the float in said pipe acting upon the valve G it controls. The water will then be drawn to near the top of the column-pipe B and to a corresponding level in the columnpipe 0, causing the float in said pipe B to act upon the valve in the box F of said pipe to close its connection with its air-exhaust branch f, and to let in atmospheric air to act upon the water in the pipe B and raise the water in the column-pipe C, said float then descending and in due course acting as a weight to reverse the action of the valve in said box F, as described with reference to the first column pipe A. This operation is repeated throughout any number of column-pipes in succession until the water is lifted to the top of the last or uppermost column-pipe.

As a system, my invention essentially differs from that in which an air-pump is used to exhaust i'l e air from a series of air-chambers arranged one above the other, and which causes the air to be condensed in a series of intermediate chambers, all connected together and provided with valves, and whereby the condensation and exhaustion of the chambers unite in drawing and pushing the water from one valve up through another till finally discharged. In my arrangement the air is not condensed to force the air, but the whole op eration is effected by exhaustion of the air and ordinary atmospheric pressure.

As regards details of construction, I prefer diameter, and the cylinder or case G in which it works to correspond, and an enlarged area of opening will be provided with but a short stroke or turning action of said valve. The upper portions of the column-pipes in which the floats work should be made of larger diameter than their lower halves to compensate for the room occupied by the floats, and, again, to prevent each valve G from too freely turning, and to hold each wire or rod 7c up until the float H falls to the lower end of said rod and acts as a weight to reverse the valve. The valve-lever l is arranged to enter, when raised, in between a spring-clamp, I, Which may be composed of two bent springs attached to the box F, or may be otherwise suitably constructed. 3

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination of a series of water column or lift pipes, A B 0, each connected intermediately of its height with the lower end of its adjacent column-pipe, the two check- Valves (1 61 within each of said column-pipes, the exhaust air-pump D, arranged to connect with the upper ends of the column pipes, valves controlling said connection and outside air-inlets at the upper ends of the columnpipes, and combined floats and weights within the upper portions of the column-pipes operating to reverse the actions of said valves,

to have-the valve G a cylindrical one, although i it might be of any other suitable kind, and to i substantially as specified.

2. The combination, with the column-pipes and their upper boxes, F, each of which is provided with an exhaust-air aperture, h, and air-inlet z", of the valve G within each of said boxes, its cylinder G, its lever Z, the spring clamp I, the rod 70, and the combined float and weight- H, essentially as and for the purpos set forth.

lVM. O. LENTZ.

lVitnesses:

A. W. STEDMAN, B. S. ERWIN. 

